Tearz49ers presents: In Pursuit of Perfection (NCAA Football '14)

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**By Jason Wilson, UKinsider.com


From Stoops fallout, comes Riley's first class.

LEXINGTON, Kentucky -- Kentucky's new head coach had less than a few months to get to grips with where he felt the Wildcats were at going into the 2018 college football season and where he felt like the team needed improvements. The truth of the matter going into signing day was the fact that the Kentucky's 2018 recruiting class had just four signed players, something Riley had to address right away.

"I am not going to sit here and slate anyone that can't be here to defend themselves," Riley told reporters. "Nor is that something I pride myself on doing, but what I will say was we were left with a ton of work to do in such a small space of time in order to bring this class up to the point where we felt like we could get players in to help us right out of the gate..."

Riley and his coaching staff did just that, with no less than fourteen players filling their letters of intent to join Kentucky on the day, that included the Wildcats top two targets from the season other than already recruited four star running back Malik Dixon. These two recruits came in the form of Five-Star receiver Jaylon Brown out of Niles, Ilinois and defensive tackle Tanner Avery of Kirksville, Missouri.

Five-Star recruit Jaylon Brown is a massive coup and a massive statement at where high school recruits see this Kentucky program after its rising the last two seasons and where they see it heading under its new head coach and coaching staff. Brown could well be the most talented player to even commit to the Wildcats program on paper, 247Sports's Josh Edwards was quoted as saying "he is the most polished receiver I have seen come out of any high school since Julio Jones." Both ESPN and Scout had Brown rated as the No 5 high school prospect with 247Sports having him as high as #2 behind running back Stefon Cummings.

As for Avery, before the hiring of Lincoln Riley as the Kentucky head coach the four-star defensive lineman had all but locked out the Wildcats but that all changed when Riley hired Chris Rumph from Florida as his new defensive coordinator; Rumph had played a major role in Florida's recruitment of Avery and had even convinced the 6-foot-5, 265lbs recruit that he would better suited as a 3-4 defensive end.

"Coach Rumph built up a massive rapport with my family and I," Avery told reporters this afternoon. "He told me how combination of speed and strength would suit a 3-4 defense and when he was named as the Wildcats coordinator there was only one place I wanted to play football after that next season"

Coach Riley and his coaching staff also addressed the need to sign offensive lineman, the Wildcats lost five of its offensive lineman from last the last campaign and having Aaron Charles (OT) and Jake Blanks (OG) as roll overs from Mark Stoops, Riley went on to recruit a further five offensive lineman in Cameron Breedlove (OG), Kenny Crum (OG), Steven Floyd (OG) Josiah Huff (OT) and Marvin Mills (OT).

Unlike last season the Wildcats 18 man recruiting class was made up of three players from in state.

Kentucky signed: 1 Five-Star, 3 Four-Stars, 11 Three-Stars, 2 Two-Stars and 1 One-Star; The Wildcats 2018 recruiting class was ranked as the No. 30 overall class.

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Top 25 Recruiting Classes: Who's No. 1?
A look into the top 25 classes in the country for the 2018 recruiting class.

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**END OF YEAR 2**

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2018 could well be the toughest seasons in Wildcats history. No longer a bottom dweller in the SEC after finishing last season with a 9-4 record, not only will the heaps of more expectation way heavily on the young shoulders of the players in Lexington but it was also fall onto the coaching skills of the youngest head coach in college football Lincoln Riley who took the reigns as the Wildcats head coach when Mark Stoops decided to do the dirty and move onto Pittsburgh. Just to make things better the scheduling gods have decided to throw in road trips to #8 Auburn, #7 Ohio State, #21 Georgia, #17 Vanderbilt, oh and #1 Tennessee that ontop of home games with #13 Notre Dame, #14 LSU and #5 Florida giving the Wildcats college footballs most toughest schedule as voted by the associated press.

Previewing the Kentucky Offense in 2018:

Not only will Kentucky's offense be under the guidance of new offensive coordinator Jay Boulware who comes in with Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, it returns only five starters from last season. The Wildcats had college footballs No. 6 ranked offense at the end of last season and it will be down to the play calling abilities of new head coach Lincoln Riley to continue the improvement of this offense in 2018.

Brandon Dixon returns under center as a true sophomore after finishing last season with a QB rating of 150.1 as a true freshman, he passed for 3134-yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in what as an impressive campaign for the first year player. Dixon was asked by Riley to add weight and boost his strength, the quarterback obliged and will come into the new season at 215 lbs over the 205 lbs he played at last season. Dixon's backup will be between third year sophomore Gunnar Hoak and incoming four star recruit Miles Madison.

The biggest loss for the Kentucky offense came with the departure of all time leading rusher Stanley Williams who at points last season carried this offense through some tough games. Dixon is the only ball carrier left from last season who had more than thirty carries, however that isn't to mean there isn't a potential stud waiting in the wings for this offense this season. Malik Dixon, brother of the Wildcats quarterback was a high profile capture for the Wildcats recruiting class coming in from Cardinal Mooney High School as a four star recruit and its pretty much confirmed that Dixon will be the Wildcats feature back in 2018 with sophomore Corey Booth sharing the carries.

Like at running back the Wildcats receiving core will be pretty much fresh faced, only Swae Jones-Hall and tight end C.J. Conrad were key features in the offense last season but with the addition of stud high school recruit Jaylon Brown, who many believe to be the most polished wide out to come out of high school since Julio Jones and last years top signing Jacoby Shaddox this Wildcats offense possesses one of its most talented receiving lineups on paper that this school has ever seen, add in the 6'6" frame of senior Kayuane Ross who has improved dramatically this spring and this will be enough to give anyone nightmares.

The offensive line will see three new starters in Jervontius Stallings at left guard, George Asafo-Adjei at right guard and true freshman Aaron Charles at right tackle only Drake Jackson (C) and Landon Young (LT) played more than a single snap last year. Drake Jackson is the most talented offensive lineman in the SEC, he didn't give up a single sack in 2017 and was voted 1st team all SEC.

Previewing the Kentucky Defense in 2018:

The Kentucky defense may have lost the likes of Matt Elam and Courtney Love and likes its offense will be under the control of a new coordinator in Chrs Rumph.

Along with that Rumph will a the forefront of the task of switching the Wildcats from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense, a task he has only been working on for a few short weeks.

The Wildcats secondary will be much more improved this season that it was last year, to be honest it cant get any worse than it was. Senior's Chris Westry and Derrick Baity both earned pre-season all american honours at cornerback along with safety and fellow senior Marcus Walker. The secondary is the most experienced unit on this defense with seven seniors and a junior in its depth chart; Rumph also stated how excited he was to see what sophomore Jacob Coley could do in this defensive backfield.

With team captain Jordan Jones returning for his senior season after a junior campaign the finished early this Wildcats linebacking core got a massive boost as it switches schemes, even with the shorter season it was Jones who recorded the second most tackles for a Wildcats linebacker behind Courtney Love. Jones will lineup across from another senior in Denzil Ware whose shift from defensive end to linebacker last season proved a master stroke and the player adapted quickly recording four sacks last year. Inside these two it's pretty much an open field right now, junior Kash Daniel hasn't seen any playing time in his three years but could well be the most talented inside guy this defense has; sophomore Roland Walker is the fastest linebacker on the roster but his lack of experience like Daniel could prove costly inside a new defensive scheme. Look for this defense to turn there eyes to seniors Eli Brown, Josh Allen, and Jordan Bonner to fill gaps.

Senior defensive end Adrian Middleton is the only returning defensive lineman who recorded more than one sack last year (6) and with his 6'3",
307 lbs frame he is the perfect fit at defensive end for Chris Rumph. True freshman Tanner Avery has made the expected switch to defensive end and his combined speed/strength combo will be enough for him to win the second defensive end spot ahead of senior Kengera Daniel, watch out for Avery to be a stud on this defensive line this year. Inside those two, junior Ja'Quize Cross and freshman Kenard Smith will bolster the 3-4 defense.

Previewing the Kentucky Special Teams in 2018:

Austin MacGinnis is now gone and the Wildcats will turn to the legs of redshirt freshman kicker Jonathan Johnson, who an unproven comodity in college football has one of the strongest legs we have seen going into next season. Grant McKinniss downed 14 punts inside the 20 yard line last season, that was just under 50% of all his punts throughout the whole season as a sophomore, the Wildcats might be better on offense and McKinniss could be used less this season but expect him to continue with the same sort of numbers in 2018.

The return game was much improved last season with freshman Corey Booth and expect the running back now a sophomore to continue on with his returning duties this season.

Final Analysis

The strength of the Wildcats schedule is scary and with a fairly inexperienced group on both sides of the ball this could be an up and down season. There is plenty of talent and it could well be the most talented roster this school has ever seen on paper but that has to translate onto the field of play, if it does then the Wildcats could prove a tricky opponent for any school they face on this schedule in 2018.


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[Knickerbocker91]

First season in Lexington is going to be rough for Riley with that schedule and so many guys without in-game experience.

[Tearz49ers]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knickerbocker91

First season in Lexington is going to be rough for Riley with that schedule and so many guys without in-game experience.

This schedule is brutal. I have had a scout through the rest of the pre-season top 25 and it is definitely the toughest schedule out of all of them. Lets just hope the young talent we have can get us through.

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* = Redshirt
C = Captain

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